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Hey Mac realy nice doors whats the cost on somethig like that? keep up the good work thanks for the post

I charged them $1250, and I was quite the perfectionist during fabrication. I don't think I made much per hour, but I was happy when I was done. I still have a half-built set in my scrap pile somewhere from abandoning them and starting over, even.

The castings ranged from $5 to $20 each, depending on size, and the steel is all .065" wall, and this was back when steel was much cheaper, so the material cost was maybe $250 - $300, and $80 of that was the top-grade Schlage lockset.

There is also a footbolt and header bolt that were from McFaddendale Hardware, and you'll see I made a special receiver for the footbolt because of where the threshhold was. The doorknob on the left is a dummy, just fastened with #8-32 screws into tapped holes.

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Probably just in the right place for the right amount of time. My work is exclusively word-of-mouth, and a lot of both my electrical and welding work come through a friend of mine that I've known for 25 years who's a framing contractor. I do all the electrical for him and he has lots of customers that ask him for welding services, too. They can either afford my quality or not. I got away from doing the cheap stuff because I just personally can't make the shortcuts that make it cheap.

My buddy did a huge porch for them and they mentioned they wanted a fancy room divider. After I did that, they gladly paid my premium for the door.

Same thing with my electrical work. He tells them he has two electricians that he uses. I'm the expensive one that always passes inspection on the first shot. The other guy is pretty good but doesn't know all the codes and has to go back and redo things every once in a while. They usually pick me.